The present invention relates to a hydraulic gun barrel brake including a pneumatic gun barrel recuperator which is moved jointly with the recoil brake by way of a breech ring of a gun barrel.
It is known that in heavy weapons systems, for example in guns, the recoil velocity of the gun barrel is controlled by means of a throttling rod built into the recoil brake. Such a recoil brake is disclosed in German Patent No. 1,283,706. DE-AS No. 2,053,098 also discloses the throttling of the counterrecoil velocity of the gun barrel by means of a throttling device disposed in a separate recuperator.
Due to the respective arrangement of a recoil throttle in the recoil brake and a counterrecoil throttle in the recuperator, considerable manufacturing costs result in the production of both devices. For example, the throttling of the counterrecoil movement within the recuperator requires, in addition to the provision of a gas pressure chamber, also a complicated hollow recuperator cylinder filled with hydraulic fluid and an additional throttle valve. Due to the arrangement of the fluid throttle within the recuperator whose external dimensions are given, the internal gas volume is subjected to an increased pressure level and greater pressure fluctuations, thus possibly resulting in increased wear of the seals and thus also in increased maintenance costs.
The use of maintenance friendly seals is possible according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,882, but in this hollow cylinder no defined counterrecoil velocity can be set for greatly varying recoil lengths as they occur with weapons that fire at high angles. However, the realization of a uniform counterrecoil velocity is necessary for trouble-free operation of the weapon mechanism.